


Perfect, Beautiful Self

by LMX



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Episode Related, Episode: s02e16 Doomworld, Gen, Legion of Doom Leonard Snart, Leonard Snart thinks the world revolves around him, Pyromania, mention of burning alive, negative view of the emergency services, suicide ideation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-11-06 10:54:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11034720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LMX/pseuds/LMX
Summary: Leonard Snart walks away from Mick Rory in a burning warehouse. Years later he makes his changes to DoomWorld to make sure Mick never gets hurt like that again





	Perfect, Beautiful Self

**Author's Note:**

> This was mostly me just trying to reason out why Len would design his tiny section of DoomWorld the way he did – effectively taking all the fun and all the challenge out of carrying out a precision planned and expertly executed heist against skilled opponents. It didn't seem like a decision he made for himself.

In the moments after he walked away from the fire - the one that Len thinks should be capitalised in his head – after Len had screamed something to the effect of "You're out, Mick, out, you hear me?!!" over the sound of flames and cracking wood, getting no response or even acknowledgement from Mick's back as the flames started to lick at his jacket, Len was sure he was just going to walk. Just going to take a deep breath to recentre himself (shouting always made him shaky) and walk away from the burning building like a casual civilian ignoring the fire he knew nothing about.

In that moment, he reminded himself that out meant out – it was the only way to keep himself and his sister safe. That was the way it had always been, Mick knew that, and if the only difference was that he let the fire take Mick (and Len and Lisa's secrets) instead of shooting him… well that was the way Mick had always wanted to go, and he was just repaying Mick's years of loyalty by giving him that much.

If he'd had more time, if he hadn't been distracted by the completely unrelated siren that had lingered in front of the building before moving away, if he'd had more *control* of things, he would never have let the fire get so big. Never have left Mick alone (unsupervised) with it for so long…

Well, Mick had made his priorities clear, and it wasn't like Len hadn't known it might happen. They'd talked about Mick's thoughts on fire, on how he'd dreamed of finding the perfect fire and knowing that to walk straight into it, to give himself up to it, would be purifying. Embracing the perfect fire would burn away all the deceit and the inefficiencies of a form built on muscle and fuel (so much fuel in a human body) and it would show his true self – and that true self would be on fire, would share the perfection of the fire, and it would be beautiful.

Len kinda wanted to see that. Not to see his partner burn to death, not that at all, but to see his face in that moment when he felt himself become perfect, become beautiful. Maybe it was all bull, just Mick being a bit fucked in the head, and all he'd see would be screaming and death, but Mick had to be burning by now – the roof was creaking and the glass on the upper floors starting to blow out, but there wasn't any screaming yet.

He could hear sirens, though – ones that *were* coming here, that were going to interfere. Sirens that might or might not save Mick and his perfect, beautiful (burned) self.

Len had a brief daydream of some other universe where he'd direct them inside to Mick, and they would bring his partner out and do their best to make him whole again and not just fix him up well enough that they could hand him on to the prison service to deal with. A universe where the emergency services, the police, the fire station, the medical professionals and the shrinks and all, were there to serve them, no matter how much Mick's brain told him that finding the perfect fire and walking into it would make him the man he was supposed to be. No matter how many times Len had to put a body in the ground to keep him and his safe.

The daydream faded, and he cursed his own distraction. The warehouse on the opposite side of the street had a flimsy bolt lock, easily opened, and he slipped inside as the sirens turned the corner – fire first, ambulance not far behind. He'd wait and watch. He needed to know what – if anything – they managed to retrieve of his partner.

-

It's not many years later, when offered the chance to remake Central City (or at least his part of it) in whatever shape he wanted, that Len thought of that moment – of that daydream where the fine people of Central City saw the two of them and either moved aside respectfully or damned well came to help when called.

He finally had Mick in front of him, as this rag tag team of mediocre supervillains had promised him, and he was a different Mick – quieter, more restrained, more *careful*. It was like whatever he'd seen when that fire had caught up with his body hadn't been anything like perfect or beautiful. Like both Len and the fire had betrayed him utterly in the same moment – and then Len had done it again when he'd dragged Mick onto this ship full of morons and gone and gotten himself killed. 

The thing was, Mick had *stayed*, whether through misplaced loyalty to future-Len's memory or (god forbid) affection for these idiots. And now he was back with Len, and Len was trying to keep the idiots alive because if it really was affection then Mick wouldn't like to see them hurt. And that meant giving up some of his wishes, some of his leeway in negotiation, but he could live with that. He didn't need to change *much*.

Because Len couldn't think of anything he wanted more (anything more perfect) than him and Mick ripping through beautifully planned heists, and then just walking away. Calling in at a hospital if they were hurt, calling in the fire service if they were leaving behind a mess. He'd have to plan to mess up on a few occasions, just so Mick had the opportunity to set a few fires (with an attentive spotter) and so that Mick knew that no sirens were going to distract Len this time. Not ever again. He was going to be a damned *perfect* spotter from now on.

And maybe he'd be a little selfish, and find a way to get Lisa adopted into some picture-perfect household where she was loved and told she was beautiful and she'd go to college (if she wanted to) and she could just *be*. And ok, maybe he'd be *really* selfish and make sure she didn't leave Central so that he could be nearby and keep an eye on her – just because he was trying to be a better person didn't mean he didn't *want* things.

But that was all, really. Anything else that he wanted he could steal, and maybe DoomWorld would be better than this one he was living right now because he'd have Mick.

And maybe Mick would forgive him for walking away.

**Author's Note:**

> If you get a chance, go back and rewatch that episode and consider the way it was filmed. The cop says "Mr Snart!" and the camera turns to Mick looking like someone just slapped him with a wet fish. And it *stays* on Mick while the cop's talking. As if... the cop's just called *him* Mr. Snart?
> 
> That's obviously not what happens in the episode, but I've been reading so much excellent Len/Mick fanfiction recently and I nearly had a drink vs keyboard related incident while I was rewatching that moment for research sake. :)


End file.
